Adding to a Recording After the Fact
Why would I want to do this?
Many users find it easiest to focus their recording session on simply capturing a conversation between participants, however your final podcast might consist of a few additional elements book-ending this conversation: a spoken intro, outro, perhaps a message from your sponsor read by the host.
Whether simply for convenience, or because you couldn't know at the time what content your intro and outtro will reference, you may find it easier to record these elements of your podcast once you have concluded your recording, while you're editing your podcast. Punch-ins make this easy to do in Cast's Editor.
Cast's new hybrid punch-ins feature also supports recording a punch-in over music, which is great for adding an intro or outtro that includes background music to your podcast.
What is a punch-in?
Cast's Editor supports recording "punch-ins", which is a term we've borrowed from older-tape based recording. With Cast's punch-ins, you can record brief audio clips (up to two minutes in length) from the Editor itself, which is great for recording and inserting audio after the fact without having to leave the Editor. Once you've recorded and approved your punch-in, Cast's Editor will insert it as a wedge at your current playhead position. Once inserted, a punch-in will behave like any other wedge in your Editor session, and can be moved or deleted.
How do I record a punch-in with music
Podcasters often use Cast's punch-in feature to record their podcast intros and outtros, which may include both a spoken section and background music. Cast's new hybrid punch-ins feature (which updates the punch-ins you know and love) makes this delightfully easy to do.
Now, when you choose to insert a punch-in, you'll be prompted to add optional background music to play behind your voice recording. When recording your punch-in, you'll hear your music play back as you're recording so you can time your speech as needed with the background music. If you find your music is competing with your voice, you may wish to enable ducking on your punch-in, which is discussed below.
Once you've completed and approved a hybrid punch-in, your voice and music will be added to your project as a single combined wedge, which you can move around like any other wedge.
What if my music is too loud?
Ducking is the term for reducing the volume of one audio track while another plays. When you add music to a punch-in, you will be prompted to choose whether to enable or disable ducking.
If you disable ducking, your music will run at full volume against your voice; if the music clip is already quiet (or fades out at the point you expect to start speaking), this may be the option you want.
If you enable ducking, the volume of your music will be reduced for the duration of the clip, which is often useful to help your vocals stand out against your background music. With ducking enabled, your music clip will be ducked both in the final punch-in clip that is inserted into your project and in your headphones while you are recording your voice for your punch-in.